1. Technical Field
This invention relates, generally, to carrier devices used to transport nonroad vehicles over public road. More particularly, it relates to a carrier that is attached to the rear of a vehicle of the type licensed for operation on public highways.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The most common tool for transporting nonroad vehicles over public highways is the trailer; however, trailers have road-contacting wheels and therefore must be licensed for highway operation.
Accordingly, inventors have developed carriers that are cantilevered from the transporting vehicle so that no road-contacting wheels and hence no license is required for such carriers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,640 to Gaskill, for example, shows a universal carrier that is cantilevered from the trailer hitch of the transporting vehicle. Additional cantilevered cargo carriers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,813,584 to Wiley, 3,913,811 to Spencer, 4,705,448 to Mungons, 5,029,740 to Cox, 5,011,361 to Peterson, and 4,593,840 to Chown. Of these designs, only Chown shows a covered carrier; however, it includes no means for loading a heavy nonroad vehicle such as a scooter thereinto.
Another cantilevered design, but one which requires a pair of laterally spaced apart trailer hitches, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,662 to Godin.
A covered, rear mounted storage trunk is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,528 to Johnson, but it is mounted to the rear bumper of the vehicle, i.e., not to a trailer hitch.
Although these devices perform their intended functions, they provide no means for protecting the transported vehicle from the elements or from theft. Flexible cloth covers have been designed to fit over the transported vehicles, but such covers must be custom made to fit the particular item being covered, are somewhat unsightly, and provide no protection against theft.
Some of the earlier devices provide insubstantial support for the carrier itself; these devices have been know to bump the road surface when the transporting vehicle encounters uneven road surfaces. Other devices do not bump the road because they are sturdily built; however, these devices are heavy and thus expensive to transport. Moreover, they require large amounts of materials and thus are expensive to manufacture.
What is needed, then is a carrier that protects the transported vehicle from the elements and from theft, that is built so that it does not bottom out even when transported over uneven roads at high speeds, and which is made of a small amount of lightweight materials without loss of strength. However, the prior art, when considered as a whole in accordance with the requirements of law, neither taught nor suggested to those of ordinary skill in this art, at the time the present invention was made, how the needed structure could be provided.